This
week, the third week of our YSP career tips for success is focused on
science, moving on from the Mentorship theme. Tip 3 Choosing your field with Dr. Monica Saini from
the Changi General Hospital and National University in Singapore.
3. Choosing
your field
Choosing a specialty
needs serious thought as it will have a significant impact on your future life.
The decision involves a fine act of balancing personal preferences with
available options. You may like to ask
yourself whether a specialty fits your work ethics and values, ignites your
interest in a sustained manner, and provides requisite amount of flexibility
that you desire in your work.
Recent innovations
in the field of acute stroke medicine have made this an exciting
discipline.
As a specialty,
stroke has the distinct advantages of providing an opportunity to work in a
multidisciplinary set-up, and ensure abundant patient contact. But stroke has
much to offer beyond the obvious glamour and excitement of acute stroke
medicine, like teaching, research and advocacy. Stroke medicine combines the
"brainy" skills of neurology, excitement of acute stroke
intervention, patience of rehabilitation medicine, curiosity and perseverance
of research, and the satisfaction of working in a field with tremendous growth
potential.
Ask yourself
some simple questions:
- Do you find stroke medicine exciting?
- Does it fit your expectations of what you
want to do in the future?
- Do you think you would fit in and excel in
this field?
If you like a
fast-paced and flexible working schedule, you may choose to be an acute stroke
physician. For individuals who like answering questions and are focused on
advancing science, stroke research may be the best fit. The field itself is flexible enough for you
to design a mix of activities, once you have attained the core knowledge and
skills in the areas of diagnosis, investigation and treatment of stroke.
You may want to
look for opportunities to work in this filed before making a decision. It will
be useful to look around and identify individuals, who you think you would like
to be someday, as trusted mentors. Such mentors will provide unbiased answers
to your questions (ask away) regarding the specialty, may help identify your
strengths and guide your choice of field in stroke medicine.
monica_saini@cgh.com.sg
